A Bibliography of Japanese New Religious Movements:

With Annotations and an Introduction to Japanese New Religions at Home and Abroad -
Plus an Appendix on Aum Shinrikyo (1999)

'A Bibliography of Japanese New Religious Movements: With Annotations and an Introduction to Japanese New Religions at Home and Abroad - Plus an Appendix on Aum Shinrikyo'
Peter B. Clarke (ed.)
Japan Library (1999)

Containing over 1,500 entries, this new bibliography essentially supersedes H. Byron Earhart's 1983 compendium 'The New Religions of Japan' and will surely be widely welcomed, not least because of its comprehensive approach. It includes European, American and Japanese entries covering books, journals, unpublished papers/theses and in-house publications. In addition, the second half of the book offers useful profiles of the principal NRMs, covering founder and history, main beliefs and practices, principal publications, branches worldwide and membership.

There is a full overview of the NRMs in Japan by way of Introduction as well as a concluding chapter on Aum Shinrikyo, Japan's most controversial NRM, following the 1995 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo underground.

The annotations are confined to English-language publications.

From the Introduction:
'The main focus of this annotated bibliography is the academic and serious literature, published mainly but not exclusively in English, as well as the internal literature produced by the movements themselves that is relevant to the process of the internationalization of Japanese new religions. The bibliography builds upon the reference work by Earhart, and was motivated by my own research on Japanese new religions in Brazil, Europe and parts of Africa which began in the early 1980s.'

To see more of this book, click here.

• Contents:
  • Contributors
  • Using the Bibliography
  • Introduction: 'Japanese New Religions Abroad - The Way of the kami in Foreign Lands' (By Peter B. Clarke)
  • Main Bibliography
  • Japanese New Religions Summaries
    • Agonshu
    • Byakko Shinko Kai
    • Honmichi
    • Kodo Kyodan
    • Kofuku-no-Kagaku (The Institute for Research in Human Happiness (IRH) 'Happy Science')
    • Konkokyo
    • Kurozumikyo
    • Mahikari
    • Omoto (Omotokyo, Great Origin)
    • Perfect Liberty Kyodan (PL Kyo)
    • Reiha-no-Hikari
    • Reiyukai
    • Rissho Koseikai
    • Seicho-no-Ie (The House of Growth)
    • Sekai Kyuseikyo (The Church of World Messianity)
    • Shinnyoen
    • Soka Gakkai (The Value Creation Society)
    • Tenrikyo (Heavenly Truth)
  • Appendix: 'Aum Sinrikyo: Brief History and Select Bibliography' (By Peter B. Clarke)

• Contributors:
  • Elizabeth Arweck
  • Gary Bouma
  • Peter B. Clarke
  • Catherine Cornille
  • Sonia Crivello
  • Sanda Ducaru (Ionescu)
  • Masaki Fukui
  • Tina Hamrin
  • Keishin Inaba
  • Klaus Peter Koepping
  • Helen MacNaughtan
  • Louella Matsunaga
  • Ari Pedro Oro
  • Michael Pye
  • Susumu Shimazono
  • Emiko Tierney

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Edited by Peter B. Clarke
Hardback: 276 pages
ISBN: 1-873410-80-8
Published by Japan Library/Curzon Press, Surrey, UK (1999)